The Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles

The Lord left his apostles with instructions and with great gifts. The instructions are listed in several distinct places, but the the gifts are more scattered, both in the four gospels and in the book of Acts later, being given as the apostles needed them.

First, about the apostles... just to clarify, here I'm referring to "the disciples" as including anyone who has followed along to hear the Lord, and "the apostles" to mean the twelve men that the Lord recruited specifically, as listed in Matthew 10, Mark 3, and Luke 6.

Who were the apostles? From the lists in Matthew and Mark, which are the same, we have: Simon (Peter), James and John the sons of Zebedee, Andrew (Peter’s brother), Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew (the publican), Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, (as is Matthew, so they are brothers, too), Thaddeus, (also known as Libbeus), Simon the Canaanite (also called Simon the Zealot), and Judas Iscariot. Bartholomew is almost undoubtedly another name for Nathaniel, see John 1. The list in Luke includes another Judas, "Judas the brother of James" and doesn’t have Thaddeus.

The stories of how they were individually chosen differ, especially in the gospel of John, but that these twelve were appointed by the Lord is clear. A point of interest is that - other than Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot they are all from towns around the sea of Galilee - and perhaps those two are as well. These twelve have their names inscribed on the twelve foundations of the walls of the holy city New Jerusalem, in Revelation 21:14 in which there are also the twelve gates. These men were chosen to represent all the different states of the natural human being that can be receptive of the Lord. They are from Galilee because Galilee represents that natural state of the human mind. The number twelve in the Word represents all possible states of mankind.

What is indicated here is that all people, everywhere, can be saved or regenerated if they repent and turn to the Lord in their lives. No one is "outside" of His reach. We are born natural, everyone is, but we are so formed that our minds can be raised to what is higher, called spiritual for our conceptions of Divine truth, or Celestial for our perceptions of Divine good. But we all start in a natural state and can only move upward by listening to the Lord’s teachings in His Word, and following Him as those Apostles did.

Not all of our natural states are states of good; they can be selfish, domineering, and cruel. But the Lord said that He came "not to save the just but to call sinners to repentance". Perhaps this is why Simon the Canaanite and Judas were two that He called. Simon is little known, but in some places in the Word, "Canaan signifies an external worship without a true internal worship". (See Arcana Coelestia 1060). Can the Lord work with that - with external worship that's internally barren? Yes, as a starting point. And, even Judas, who betrayed the Lord so terribly, we are told, repented of his betrayal of the Lord. (Matthew 27:3-5)

The Lord's Instructions to the Apostles

The two most comprehensive sets of instructions are in Luke 10:1-17 where seventy Disciples are sent out two by two, apparently to a specified list of cities that Jesus intends to visit, and then in Matthew 20:1-19 where the chosen twelve Apostles are sent out to all Israel. Later, as recorded in different epistles, the Apostles go out further, through a wide region.

The basic instructions were to preach that the kingdom of heaven is near, that all should be led to repent of their sins, and that all who wish should be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles should not take any money or extra clothing along, and they were to depend entirely on the Lord’s providence with no doubt that they shall be welcomed, fed, and sheltered. If they were welcomed, they should stay and preach the good news about the risen Lord and His teachings, and if they were not, they should shake from their feet the dust of that place and go on to a place where they were welcome. See Matthew 10, 28, Mark 13, 16, Luke 9, 10:24.

There are several assurances for the twelve. The Lord has told them to stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit is sent to strengthen them, and in John 20 where the ten are gathered it is said that He breathed on them and said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit". Also, in his long talk with them in John 14, 15, 16) He assures them that his crucifixion and death are necessary to his mission and they should even rejoice that it is coming. He shows them from scripture that it has all been prophesied from long ago, (see Mark 4:34) and that what seems to them a tragedy, is truly His glorification and the end of the work He came to do. They, His twelve, are in the same steam of providence and will be protected. "Don’t be anxious," He tells them, "I will put into your mouths what you are to say, I will bring into your memories the incidents to tell to the people".

Here is a listing of the chapters and verses in John where such things are said: John 14:1-3, 10, 16-18, 26-28, 15:11, 16, 26-27, 16:7, 13-15, 22, 26-27, 33. Or simply read the three chapters and pick out your favorites.

A marvelous gift is mentioned in Matthew 10:13, "But blessed are your eyes for they see and blessed are your ears, for they hear…".

In the book of Acts, the Lord vividly shows the apostles that when they speak in their Galileen dialect every listener will hear their words as his own language in his ears; not gibberish, but Arabic to the Arabs, Greek to the Greeks, and Latin to the Romans.

When Peter starts to preach to a gathering of sympathetic Jews he speaks clearly and unafraid, saying that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God and that people should worship Him openly and repent of how they might have felt earlier. Peter’s talk in Acts 3 and 4 is a bold and powerful one. No more hiding behind locked doors.

The early history of the Christian church shows just how well all this worked out. You know what? The Apostles preached to the peoples in the Near East 2000 years ago, and their preaching is just as relevant today as it was then: "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Being at hand has nothing to do with the date or the state of political history in the world, it has to do with the inside of your mind. The Lord is just as close to you now as He was then, and He never turns away, though we might turn away from him. Remember that He said "behold I stand at the door and knock and if anyone hears and opens the door He will come right in." This hasn’t changed nor will it ever change, but He leaves us in freedom to ignore His knocking, if that is what we want. We have to make the choice, but He is always ready if we choose to open the door.

86. Those in heaven were amazed that men believe themselves intelligent, who, in thinking of God, think of something invisible, that is, incomprehensible under any form, and that they call those who think differently, unintelligent and simple, when yet the reverse is the case. They say if those who thus believe themselves to be intelligent were to examine themselves, would they not see nature as God-some, nature as it is before their eyes, others, the invisible side of nature? And further, are they not so blind that they know not what God is, what an angel is, or a spirit, or their soul which is to live after death, what the life of heaven with man and many other things that are matters of intelligence? Yet, those they call simple know all these things in their way, having an idea of their God that He is the Divine in a Human form, of an angel that he is a heavenly man, of their soul that it is to live after death, that it is like an angel, and of the life of heaven with man that it is to live in accordance with the Divine precepts. These are the ones whom angels call intelligent and fitted for heaven, but the others, on the contrary, not intelligent.

[2] COLLECTED EXTRACTS FROM THE ARCANA CAELESTIA RELATING TO THE LORD AND HIS DIVINE HUMAN.

The Lord had the Divine from His very conception (4641, 4963, 5041, 5157, 6716, 10125).

The Lord alone had a Divine seed (1438).

His soul was Jehovah (1999, 2004-2005, 2018, 2025).

Thus the Lord's inmost was the Divine Itself, while the clothing was from the mother (5041).

The Divine Itself was the Being (Esse) of the Lord's life, and from this the Human afterwards went forth and became the existing (Existere) from that Being (Esse) (3194, 3210, 10269, 10738).

[3] Within the Church where the Word is and by it the Lord is known, the Lord's Divine ought not to be denied, nor the Holy that goes forth from Him (2359).

Those within the Church who do not acknowledge the Lord have no conjunction with the Divine; but it is otherwise with those outside the Church (10205).

The essential of the Church is to acknowledge the Lord's Divine and His union with the Father (10083, 10112, 10370, 10730, 10738, 10816-10820).

[4] The glorification of the Lord is treated of in the Word in many passages (10828).

And in the internal sense of the Word everywhere (2249, 2523, 3245).

The Lord glorified His Human, but not the Divine, since this in Itself was glorified (10057).

The Lord came into the world to glorify His Human (3637, 4287, 9355).

The Lord glorified His Human by means of the Divine love that was in Him from conception (4727).

The Lord's love towards the entire human race was His life in the world (2253).

The Lord's love transcends all human understanding (2077).

The Lord saved the human race by glorifying His Human (4180, 10019, 10152, 10655, 10659, 10828).

Otherwise the whole human race world have perished in eternal death (1676).

The state of the Lord's glorification and humiliation (1785, 1999, 2159, 6866).

Glorification in respect of the Lord is the uniting of His Human with the Divine; and to glorify is to make Divine (1603, 10053, 10828).

When the Lord glorified His Human He put off everything human that was from the mother, until at last He was not her son (2159, 2574, 2649, 3036, 10830).

[5] The Son of God from eternity was the Divine truth in heaven (2628, 2798, 2803, 3195, 3704).

When the Lord was in the world He also made His Human, Divine Truth from the Divine Good that was in Him (2803, 3194-3195, 3210, 6716, 6864, 7014, 7499, 8127, 8724, 9199).

The Lord then arranged all things in Himself [apud Se] into a heavenly form, which is in accord with Divine truth (1928, 3633).

For this reason the Lord was called the Word, which is Divine Truth (2533, 2813, 2859, 2894, 3393, 3712).

The Lord alone had perception and thought from Himself, and above all angelic perception and thought (1904, 1914, 1919).

The Divine Truth which was Himself, the Lord united with Divine Good which was in Him (10047, 10052, 10076).

The union was reciprocal (2004, 10067).

[6] In passing out of the world the Lord also made His Human Divine good (3194, 3210, 6864, 7499, 8724, 9199, 10076).

This is what is meant by His coming forth from the Father and returning to the Father (3194, 3210).

Thus He became one with the Father (2751, 3704, 4766).

Since that union Divine truth goes forth from the Lord (3704, 3712, 3969, 4577, 5704, 7499, 8127, 8241, 9199, 9398).

How Divine truth goes forth, illustrated (7270, 9407).

It was from His own power that the Lord united the Human with the Divine (1616, 1749, 1752, 1813, 1921, 2025-2026, 2523, 3141, 5005, 5045, 6716).

It can be confirmed from this that the Lord's Human was not like the human of another man, because it had been conceived from the Divine Itself (10125, 10826).

His union with the Father, from Whom was His soul, was not as between two persons, but as between soul and body (3737, 10824).

[7] The most ancient people could not worship the Divine Being (Esse), but could worship only the Divine Existing (Existere), which is the Divine Human; therefore the Lord came into the world in order to become the Divine Existere from the Divine Esse (4687, 5321).

The ancients acknowledged the Divine because He appeared to them in a human form, and this was the Divine Human (5110, 5663, 6845, 10737).

The Infinite Being (Esse) could flow into heaven with the angels and with men only by means of the Divine Human (1676, 1990, 2016, 2034).

In heaven no other Divine than the Divine Human is perceived (6475, 9303, 10067, 10267).

The Divine Human from eternity was the Divine truth in heaven and the Divine passing through heaven; thus it was the Divine Existing (Existere) which afterwards in the Lord became the Divine Being (Esse) per Se, from which is the Divine Existere in heaven (3061, 6280, 6880, 10579).

What the state of heaven was before the Lord's coming (6371-6373).

The Divine was not perceptible except when it passed through heaven (6982, 6996, 7004).

[8] The inhabitants of all the earths worship the Divine under a human form, that is, the Lord (6700, 8541-8547, 10736-10738).

They rejoice when they hear that God actually became Man (9361).

The Lord receives all who are in good and who worship the Divine under a human form (9359).

God cannot be thought of except in human form; and what is incomprehensible does not fall into any idea, so neither into belief (9359, 9972).

Man is able to worship that of which he has some idea, but not that of which he has no idea (4733, 5110, 5663, 7211, 10067, 10267).

Therefore the Divine is worshipped under a human form by most of the inhabitants of the entire globe, and this is the effect of influx from heaven (10159).

All who are in good in regard to their life, when they think of the Lord, think of the Divine Human, and not of the Human separate from the Divine; it is otherwise with those who are not in good in regard to their life (2326, 4724, 4731, 4766, 8878, 9193, 9198).

In the Church at this day those who are in evil in regard to their life, and those who are in faith separate from charity, think of the Human of the Lord apart from the Divine, and do not even comprehend what the Divine Human is-why they do not (3212, 3241, 4689, 4692, 4724, 4731, 5321, 6872, 8878, 9193, 9198).

The Lord's Human is Divine because it is from the Being (Esse) of the Father, and this was His soul-illustrated by a father's likeness in children (10269, 10372, 10823).

Also because it was from the Divine love, which was the very Being (Esse) of His life from conception (6872).

Every man is such as his love is, and is his love (6872, 10177, 10284).

The Lord made all His Human, both internal and external, Divine (1603, 1815, 1902, 1926, 2083, 2093).

Therefore, differently from any man, He rose again as to His whole body (1729, 2083, 5078, 10825).

[9] That the Lord's Human is Divine is acknowledged from His omnipresence in the Holy Supper (2343, 2359).

Also from His transfiguration before His three disciples (3212).

Also from the Word of the Old Testament, in that He is called God (Arcana Coelestia 10154); and is Jehovah (1603, 1736, 1815, 1902, 2921, 3035, 5110, 6281, 6303, 8864, 9194, 9315).

In the sense of the letter a distinction is made between the Father and the Son, that is, between Jehovah and the Lord, but not in the internal sense of the Word, in which the angels of heaven are (3035).

In the Christian world the Lord's Human has been declared not to be Divine; this was done in a council for the pope's sake; that he might be acknowledged as the Lord's vicar (4738).

[10] Christians were examined in the other life in regard to their idea of one God, and it was found they held an idea of three gods (2329, 5256, 10736-10738, 10821).

A Divine Trinity or Trine in one Person, thus one God, is conceivable, but not a Trinity in three Persons (10738, 10821, 10824).

A Divine trine in the Lord is acknowledged in heaven (14-15, 1729, 2004, 5256, 9303).

The trine in the Lord is the Divine Itself, called the Father, the Divine Human, which is the Son, and the Divine going forth, which is the Holy Spirit and this Divine trine is a One (2149, 2156, 2288, 2319, 2329, 2447, 3704, 6993, 7182, 10738, 10822-10823).

The Lord Himself teaches that the Father and He are One (1729, 2004-2005, 2018, 2025, 2751, 3704, 3736, 4766); also that the Holy Divine goes forth from Him and is His (3969, 4673, 6788, 6993, 7499, 8127, 8302, 9199, 9228-9229, 9264, 9407, 9818, 9820, 10330).

[11] The Divine Human flows into heaven and makes heaven (3038).

The Lord is the all in heaven and is the life of heaven (7211, 9128).

The Lord dwells in what is His own with the angels (9338, 10125, 10151, 10157).

Consequently those who are in heaven are in the Lord (3637-3638).

The Lord's conjunction with angels is in accordance with their reception of the good of love and charity from Him (904, 4198, 4205, 4211, 4220, 6280, 6832, 7042, 8819, 9680, 9682-9683, 10106, 10810).

The entire heaven has reference to the Lord (551-552).

The Lord is the common centre of heaven (3633, 3641).

All in heaven turn themselves to the Lord, Who is above the heavens (9828, 10130, 10189).

Nevertheless angels do not turn themselves to the Lord, but the Lord turns them to Himself (10189).

It is not a presence of angels with the Lord, but the Lord's presence with angels (9415).

In heaven there is no conjunction with the Divine Itself, but conjunction with the Divine Human (4211, 4724, 5663).

[12] Heaven corresponds to the Divine Human of the Lord; consequently heaven in general is as a single man, and for this reason heaven is called the Grand Man (2996, 2998, 3624-3649, 3741-3745, 4625).

The Lord is the Only Man, and those only are men who receive the Divine from Him (1894).

So far as they receive are they men and images of Him (8547).

Therefore angels are forms of love and charity in human form, and this from the Lord (3804, 4735, 4797, 4985, 5199, 5530, 9879, 10177).

[13] The entire heaven is the Lord's (2751, 7086).

He has all power in the heavens and on earth (1607, 10089, 10827).

As the Lord rules the whole heaven He also rules all things depending thereon, thus all things in the world (2025-2026, 4523-4524).

The Lord alone has the power to remove the hells, to withhold from evils, and to hold in good, thus to save (10019).